Asthma and Types of Exercise

An asthma patient generally has sensitive air passages, or airways, resulting in difficult breathing for the patient when these air passages are irritated from an atmospheric change.

As mentioned earlier, it is crucial to note that some sports will have a higher probability of inducing attacks in an asthmatic. The difference may simply be the temperature of the air when a person is breathing at a higher than normal rate. Specifically, a swimmer may experience less of a chance of having an exercise induced asthma attack than a winter-time snow skier.

In actuality, researchers believe that swimming is the best possible sport for asthmatics – as the breathing required rarely if ever causes chest tightness among swimmers. Although, participating in another form of exercise that would require exactly the same about of oxygen to circulate might not cause the same reaction in the participant.

The reason that the second sport might cause an asthma attack and swimming might not is the air temperature. In most cases, because of environment requirements, swimmers breathe in warm and moist air since they are in water. However, a football player at the Superbowl would be breathing cold and dry air in comparison. These two significantly different atmospheres give completely different reactions, even if the breathing rate is exactly the same. That is the explanation that researchers use for why some asthmatic athletes have asthma attacks – and others do not – when participating in their chosen sports.

Of course, some asthmatics will experience acute attacks when they enter the swimming pool. Researchers needed to find an explanation, and it did not prove difficult to explain the reason. Some asthmatics are very sensitive to chlorine, as an irritant. Thus, it is not possible to state that swimmers who are asthmatic do not have attacks.

Generally, the time required for exercise induced acute attacks to occur is six minutes of constant stress to the air passages. Thus, sports which involve short bursts of activity interspersed with short periods of rest make great activities for the asthmatic. Some examples include; swimming, team sports like football or softball, volleyball and yoga or Pilates.

Running of any type is often a terrible idea for asthmatic patients as it will, in some people, trigger an almost immediate attack. However, recent treatment advances have enabled some athletes who were previously unable to run for more than a few seconds to adapt their exercise routines to include running.

It is important to realize that even the mildest case of asthma proves detrimental to the success of an athlete when it begins to cause flare-ups during competition. So, asthmatic athletes often choose individual non-competitive, anaerobic or team sports in order to make up for the chance of an attack happening in the middle of something important.

Overview... Asthma and Types of Exercise

Because of the dangers of asthma-attacks that result from exercise, it is important for asthmatics and their caregivers to become familiar with the symptoms that indicate an on-coming attack.
Running of any type is often a terrible idea for asthmatic patients as it will, in some people, trigger an almost immediate attack. However, recent treatment advances have enabled some athletes who were previously unable to run for more than a few seconds to adapt their exercise routines to include running.
Swimming is generally a good exercise for asthmatics.
An asthma patient generally has sensitive air passages, or airways, resulting in difficult breathing for the patient when these air passages are irritated from an atmospheric change.
Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease, often arising from allergies, that is characterized by sudden recurring attacks of laboured breathing, chest constriction and coughing. There is currently no cure available for asthma, however new discoveries in the medical research field are increasing the medications and techniques used to monitor and treat asthma in patients with the disease.

Asthma Guide

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